This article critically reviews the social-psychological literature on race attitudes, which has assumed that the prejudicial status of any expression is determined by the underlying psychological attitude that motivated it. Variation and inconsistency in individuals' attitudinal expressions and disagreement over how to measure prejudice have…

The contact hypothesis proposes that interaction between members of different groups reduces intergroup prejudice if--and only if--certain optimal conditions are present. For over 50 years, research using this framework has explored the boundary conditions for ideal contact and has guided interventions to promote desegregation. Although supporting…

H.B. Gerard (1983) has misrepresented the content of the 1954 Social Science Statement. His appraisal of school desegregation is misleading in terms of both its current status and future potential; further, the actual and potential role of social science in public policy is more extensive than Gerard has claimed. (CMG)

Discusses societal changes that may have contributed to increasing average achievement levels (especially in mathematics) for Black students. Considers the long-term beneficial effects of school desegregation. (GC)

Social scientists' assertions in 1954, that desegregation would improve minority student performance by freeing minority children from "pariah" status, and the hypothesis that interracial classroom contact would result in improved minority student achievement, are both unsupported by research. Effective school desegregation programs must…